Iris is a boring, poorly written, poorly developed character that serves no purpose on the show and is bland and uninteresting compared to Caitlin Snow. The fact that Barry and Iris' entire relationship is thrown together and not developed at all is another problem. This is the same reason that Oliver/Laurel didn't work on Arrow. It's not just that Laurel was horribly developed and in no way similar to her Black Canary version in the comics(Caity Lotz' Sara Lance was much closer to comic book Laurel), it was also that Oliver and Laurel's entire relationship was established backstory that we didn't get to see. We're just told that they were in a relationship before Oliver and Sara disappeared on the Queen's Gambit, and that the storyline is gonna be about them slowly getting back together. Well, I'm sorry, but that's just not fun to watch. We got to see why Oliver and Sara fell in love because of all the flashbacks to the island of Lian Yu, and their interaction as Green Arrow and Black Canary in the present day, which showed how perfectly suited they were for each other. We also got to see Oliver and Felicity slowly fall in love over the course of three seasons as they went from partners, to friends, to falling for each other. That's they way it's supposed to be. It's the old rule of storytelling: you can't say it, you have to show it.

WestAllen makes the same mistake. We don't get to see Barry and Iris fall in love. The writers just have Barry already in love with Iris from the first episode. And why? Because they grew up together while Barry was being raised by her father, Joe West. Oh, that's really romantic. Not only do we have to simply accept a love story that we never got to see develop because it's all off-screen backstory, but we also have to believe that Barry's gonna fall in love with a girl he's been sharing a bathroom with since age 11? I don't think so. I don't like couples that are forced or thrown together because that's just not fun to watch. Audiences wanna fall in love with watching two characters falling in love. That's why Olicity worked and Laurel didn't. And that's why SnowBarry fans love Barry and Caitlin and why Iris really doesn't work as a character, aside from the fact that she is irrelevant to the main storyline. She's a poor woman's Lois Lane on a show that doesn't need a Lois Lane. She's a reporter who never actually reports on anything, and who never seems to be at her job at the newspaper she works for... because the writers simply don't have a use for that on the show.

And whenever she's hanging around STAR Labs she's only there because the writers feel obligated to work her into as many scenes with Barry as they can, but all she does is stand around giving pep talks while Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco do all the work. Iris will say, "Come on, we have to figure this out!" But she never actually comes up with anything, it's always Barry, or Caitlin, or Cisco who do, while Iris just sits ineffectually behind a bunch of computer equipment she has no idea how to operate. So what the hell is she doing at STAR Labs? What exactly does Iris do? She's a reporter? How often does the show ever find a use for that aspect of her character? How often does the show ever go to her newspaper office? I can count the number of times on one hand with fingers to spare. How did Iris get that job with no qualifications other than serving coffee and blogging? Usually a person has to go to journalism school and then do an internship. How often is her job as a reporter significant to the story? The majority of the show is at STAR Labs. What does Iris do while she's there other than stand around? And what is she even doing there all the time? Reporters have deadlines to meet. I'm surprised she hasn't been fired given how little time she actually spends at her job. I think that the writers just threw Iris into the story for no reason other than because she's Iris West, but really had no idea of what they were actually gonna do with her. And Caitlin basically serves the same purpose on this show that Christina McGee did on the original Flash TV show with John Wesley Shipp back in 1990.

And whenever I hear WestAllen people constantly defer to canon by saying, "Barry and Iris are canon in the comics," I always point out that this ship sailed a long time ago. The CW/DC shows have never stuck to canon, otherwise Laurel would still be alive and with Oliver as the Green Arrow and Black Canary. You think I don't play the canon card all the time? I've complained about canon in the MCU, and about how Hank Pym as Ant-Man/Giant-Man and Janet Van Dyne as The Wasp are supposed to be two of the main Avengers in the comics, yet the movies have cut them out completely. I've complained that the Dark Phoenix saga is supposed to be Scott and Jean's story in the comics, yet X-Men 3: The Last Stand killed off Scott and gave his role to Wolverine. And I've also complained about how Rick and Andrea are the canonical couple in The Walking Dead comics, yet the TV show killed Andrea off in season 3 before she and Rick could even get together, and paired Rick with Michonne instead. So I really don't wanna hear the WestAllen people give me the canon argument anymore. Iris in the comics is way different than she is on the TV show, and Caitlin is just a much more well-written, more compelling character who fits into Barry's storyline better and has far greater chemistry with him.